PSYCHOLOGICAL

There are four components to improving athletic performance – technical, tactical, mental, and physical. Mental skills vastly impede or enhance performance in any of the other three components. Given their impact it is amazing how little time athletes spend working on this area. Mastery of your emotions is critical to success both on and off the court. We will give you simple, solution-based tools to develop the habits and mindset needed to flourish and affect long-lasting change and growth.

AMY GROSS

SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY DIRECTOR

Amy earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Yale University and holds two master’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania in Counseling and Mental Health Services and Professional Counseling and Psychology. She is a three-time National Championship winner in squash at Yale University and former Assistant Coach at University of Pennsylvania, where the team consistently places in the top three in the nation. She currently runs Pillars4Performance and will consult for Bulldog Tutors.
Her philosophy is that people are a work in progress who can benefit from using coaching as a means to refine strengths and identify and improve areas of growth that are critical for successful performance. She guides people to be solution focused and learn the relationship between execution and peak performance. This proactive approach enables people to cultivate a mentality that leads to long-lasting change and growth.
Amy has a diverse professional background with experience in business, academic, athletic, and mental health settings. She has spent 15+ years coaching and competing as an elite athlete and brings a results-driven and strengths-based approach to every client interaction.

MENTAL SKILLS PLAN

We get a 360 degree view of the athletes using information gleaned from the athlete and their close team members like coaches, teachers, and parents. Like all other areas, we need to practice these skills in a scheduled manner. To help an athlete reach their potential we will work on areas such as overcoming obstacles, improving consistency, noticing thoughts, emotions and behavior, and coping with pressure especially during competition. This will be done through:

WHY BULLDOG?

Learning to manage your emotions and thrive in stressful situations is essential even off the field. Our experts have first-hand knowledge of the recruitment process and can still remember the joys and stressors of the teenage years. We work alongside youth, college and professional athletes and therefore have a wealth of knowledge on mental skills. All our experts have psychology training and can reinforce the expertise of our certified sports psychologist. We have learned from the best and performed for the best. You will not find a more comprehensive staff.